Labourers pluck tea leaves at Priyadarshini Tea Estate in Kerala. Telegraph picture

Jorhat, May 11: Assam is hoping to draw its reluctant tea labourers back to work with the lure of free lunches after a midday meal scheme raised productivity levels in a Kerala tea estate.

Enthused by Priyadarshini tea estate’s success story, Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, tea leader and vice-president of the BJP, demanded introduction of the free midday meal scheme for labourers in the government-owned ATCL gardens.

With no ration and irregular pay, workers of the 15 tea estates owned by the company are a demoralised lot, which has affected their productivity. Many labourers have even taken to working as daily wage earners.

Midday meals have so far been synonymous with primary schools, implemented with the idea of checking dropouts.

“Introduction of government schemes like the midday meal would be a viable option to lure the labour force to work and this would increase productivity of the gardens,” Tasa told The Telegraph today.

“We should take a cue from the Kerala tea estate where production has increased manifold after introduction of the scheme,” Tasa, who is also a former general secretary of the Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA), said.

Priyadarshini tea estate, in Wayanad district in Kerala, registered a record production after introduction of the scheme in 2010.

ATCL, formed in 1973, following a government decision to take over the sick gardens, currently has a 16,000-strong work force.

Tasa said Priyadarshini tea estate was similar to the ATCL, since it was also conceived as a rehabilitation project — for the tribals freed from bonded labour in 1984.

Hari Kishore, managing director of Priyadarshini tea estate, told The Telegraph over phone that the scheme was a total success.

“Productivity of the labourers has increased and there is hardly any absenteeism now,” he said.

Dileswar Tanti, general secretary of the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha, the apex body of the tea labourers in the state, said the government should seriously consider introduction of similar schemes in the ATCL gardens for the benefit of the labourers.

“If the government cannot run the gardens, then these should be leased out to private parties,” Tanti said.

Assistant general secretary of the Assam Tea Tribes Students Association (ATTSA), Dhiraj Gowala, seconded the idea of midday meals.

“Not only a midday meal scheme but other government schemes should also be implemented for the labourers,” he said.

Harish Sonowal, managing director of ATCL, however, said the company has not thought of introducing such schemes in the tea estates as of now.

“We have, however, taken several steps, like replantation and procurement of new machinery to increase production. We have also started dairy farming in a few estates and renovated a few British era bungalows into tourist resorts to increase income,” he said.